Payment vehicle with personalized rewards program

ABSTRACT

A method, system, and computer readable media for offering to the user of a payment vehicle a rewards program personalized to the user and the user&#39;s financial goals. A payment vehicle is provided with integrated reserved funds accounts which user can use to save up for large purchases. By designating the purchase for which these funds will ultimately be used, the user can be provided with personalized rewards programs relevant to planned purchases.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional patent application shares certain common subjectmatter with U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/697,101, filed Apr. 27,2015, and entitled “PAYMENT VEHICLE FOR BUDGETING,” and with U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/697,043, filed Apr. 27, 2015 and entitled“UNIFIED PAYMENT VEHICLE.” The identified applications are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety into the presentapplication.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to payment systems and,more particularly, to a payment vehicle with a rewards programpersonalized to the user and the user's financial goals.

2. Related Art

Conventional rewards programs are static, and not tied to the user.Thus, for example, a user who does not drive may be offered a rewardsprogram offering cash rewards for gasoline purchases. Such rewardsprograms do not benefit the user, and cost the program sponsoradministration costs for no benefit. Accordingly, there is a need forpersonalized rewards programs that is applicable to purchases the userwishes to make. Similarly, by matching programs with interested users,rewards programs sponsors can achieve the maximum benefit from therewards programs they sponsor.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention address this need by providing paymentvehicle with integrated reserved funds accounts which user can use tosave up for large purchases. By designating the purchase for which thesefunds will ultimately be used, the user can be provided withpersonalized rewards programs relevant to planned purchases. In a firstembodiment, the invention includes a method for configuring a customizedrewards program for a user, comprising the steps of providing a userinterface for a user to create a reserved funds account, receivinginformation from the user associated with the reserved funds account,based on the received information, determining a applicable rewardsprogram associated with the reserved funds account, and offering theapplicable rewards program to the user.

In a second embodiment, the invention includes a system for offering apersonalized rewards programs, comprising a payment vehicle for a useroperable to provide payment for a transaction, a reserved funds accountassociated with the payment vehicle, wherein the payment vehicle doesnot have access to the funds in the reserved funds account to providepayment to the transaction, and a rewards program associated with thepayment vehicle and offered to the user based on one or more detailsassociated with the reserved funds account.

In a third embodiment, the invention includes one or morecomputer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions which,when executed by a processor, perform a method of offering a customizedrewards program to a user, the method comprising the steps of receiving,from the user, details relating to a reserved funds account to becreated for the user, determining, based on the details relating to thereserved funds account, an applicable rewards program, and offering, tothe user, the applicable rewards program in conjunction with a paymentvehicle of the user.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that is further described below in the detaileddescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Other aspectsand advantages of the current invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description of the embodiments and the accompanyingdrawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

Embodiments of the invention are described in detail below withreference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary hardware platform for certain embodiments ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a first system in accordance with embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 3 depicts a second system in accordance with embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 4 depicts a method of processing a payment in accordance withembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary interface for allowing a user to configurefunding account rules;

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary interface for allowing a user to view, add,and delete funding and budgeting accounts;

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart illustrating the operation of a method ofintegrating with merchant loyalty programs in accordance withembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary interface for managing customer loyaltyprograms;

FIG. 9A depicts a system diagram including certain components used inpracticing embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 9B depicts an alternate system diagram including an alternatearrangement of the components of FIG. 9A, as used in practicing otherembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 10 depicts a flowchart depicting the operation of a method ofmanaging a user's budget in accordance with embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary budgeting interface in accordance withembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 12 depicts an interface for configuring rules to automaticallyassign payments to virtual budgeting accounts; and

FIG. 13 depicts a flowchart illustrating the operation of a method ofassigning a customized rewards program to a user in accordance withcertain embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 14 depicts a high-level flowchart showing the flow of a transactionaccording to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

The drawing figures do not limit the invention to the specificembodiments disclosed and described herein. The drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearlyillustrating the principles of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject matter of embodiments of the invention is described indetail below to meet statutory requirements; however, the descriptionitself is not intended to limit the scope of claims. Rather, the claimedsubject matter might be embodied in other ways to include differentsteps or combinations of steps similar to the ones described in thisdocument, in conjunction with other present or future technologies.Minor variations from the description below will be obvious to oneskilled in the art, and are intended to be captured within the scope ofthe claimed invention. Terms should not be interpreted as implying anyparticular ordering of various steps described unless the order ofindividual steps is explicitly described.

The following detailed description of embodiments of the inventionreferences the accompanying drawings that illustrate specificembodiments in which the invention can be practiced. The embodiments areintended to describe aspects of the invention in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Otherembodiments can be utilized and changes can be made without departingfrom the scope of the invention. The following detailed description is,therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of embodimentsof the invention is defined only by the appended claims, along with thefull scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

In this description, references to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or“embodiments” mean that the feature or features being referred to areincluded in at least one embodiment of the technology. Separatereference to “one embodiment” “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” in thisdescription do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and are alsonot mutually exclusive unless so stated and/or except as will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art from the description. For example,a feature, structure, or act described in one embodiment may also beincluded in other embodiments, but is not necessarily included. Thus,the technology can include a variety of combinations and/or integrationsof the embodiments described herein.

I. System Overview

At a high level, embodiments of the invention integrating all of thefeatures described in greater detail below perform a transaction asfollows. First, the merchant with whom the transaction will take placeis identified, and any rewards programs available, whether specific tothe merchant or due to rewards programs linked to the payment vehicleare identified. Next, any relevant products for loyalty programs(including frequent shopper programs and punch-card style programs) areidentified for the user. Then the subject matter for the transaction(i.e., the goods or services being purchased) is determined and anyrelevant discounts from whatever source are identified, and any relevantcoupons (whether vendor coupons, manufacturer coupons, or coupons fromanother source) or punch cards presented to the merchant for redemption.Once this is done, the total amount of the transaction can bedetermined, and it can be determined whether the transaction fallswithin the user's budget (based on the merchant, the purchase amount andother factors). If it does, or if the user performs a budget override,the payment amount can be allocated among the various funding accountswith which the user has configured the payment vehicle according to therules configured by the user.

Certain embodiments of the invention include a single payment vehiclecombining all of the user's financial accounts, with further provisionmade for integrating the user's loyalty programs. In this way, the useris freed from the necessity of carrying a wallet full of cards forvarious financial accounts, frequent shopper programs, punch cards, andthe like. The payment vehicle can further automatically allocatepayments across the user's financial accounts according to the user'spreviously expressed preferences, further maximizing ease-of-use.

In some embodiments, in addition to allocating a purchase to one or morefunding accounts, the invention can allocate the purchase across one ormore budgeting accounts. For example, the user may budget anentertainment account containing a certain amount of funds and configurerules determining which purchases are charged against that account. Oncethe budgeted funds are exhausted, further charges against theentertainment account may be rejected unless the user overrides thebudget for that charge.

In further embodiments, this integration of the user's finances in asingle place can be used to provide the user with savings and rewardsprograms customized to their needs. For example, a user can reserve aportion of their monthly budget towards saving up for a large purchaseor other expenditure. Rewards programs can be offered to the user toencourage their meeting this goal, or based on the goal itself. Forexample, a user saving for a vacation could be offered airline mileagerewards program to use to defray the cost of the trip, with bonus milesawarded for contributions to the savings, redeemable once the savinggoal has been met.

II. Operational Environment for Embodiments of the Invention

Turning first to FIG. 1, an exemplary hardware platform for certainembodiments of the invention is depicted. Computer 102 can be a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a server computer, a mobile device such asa smartphone or tablet, or any other form factor of general- orspecial-purpose computing device. Depicted with computer 102 are severalcomponents, for illustrative purposes. In some embodiments, certaincomponents may be arranged differently or absent. Additional componentsmay also be present. Included in computer 102 is system bus 104, wherebyother components of computer 102 can communicate with each other. Incertain embodiments, there may be multiple busses or components maycommunicate with each other directly. Connected to system bus 104 iscentral processing unit (CPU) 106. Also attached to system bus 104 areone or more random-access memory (RAM) modules. Also attached to systembus 104 is graphics card 110. In some embodiments, graphics card 104 maynot be a physically separate card, but rather may be integrated into themotherboard or the CPU 106. In some embodiments, graphics card 110 has aseparate graphics-processing unit (GPU) 112, which can be used forgraphics processing or for general purpose computing (GPGPU). Also ongraphics card 110 is GPU memory 114. Connected (directly or indirectly)to graphics card 110 is display 116 for user interaction. In someembodiments no display is present, while in others it is integrated intocomputer 102. Similarly, peripherals such as keyboard 118 and mouse 120are connected to system bus 104. Like display 116, these peripherals maybe integrated into computer 102 or absent. Also connected to system bus104 is local storage 122, which may be any form of computer-readablemedia, and may be internally installed in computer 102 or externally andremoveably attached.

Computer-readable media include both volatile and nonvolatile media,removable and nonremovable media, and contemplate media readable by adatabase. For example, computer-readable media include (but are notlimited to) RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology,CD-ROM, digital versatile discs (DVD), holographic media or otheroptical disc storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage, and other magnetic storage devices. These technologies canstore data temporarily or permanently. However, unless explicitlyspecified otherwise, the term “computer-readable media” should not beconstrued to include physical, but transitory, forms of signaltransmission such as radio broadcasts, electrical signals through awire, or light pulses through a fiber-optic cable. Examples of storedinformation include computer-useable instructions, data structures,program modules, and other data representations.

Finally, network interface card (NIC) 124 is also attached to system bus104 and allows computer 102 to communicate over a network such asnetwork 126. NIC 124 can be any form of network interface known in theart, such as Ethernet, ATM, fiber, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi (i.e., the IEEE802.11 family of standards). NIC 124 connects computer 102 to localnetwork 126, which may also include one or more other computers, such ascomputer 128, and network storage, such as data store 130. Generally, adata store such as data store 130 may be any repository from whichinformation can be stored and retrieved as needed. Examples of datastores include relational or object oriented databases, spreadsheets,file systems, flat files, directory services such as LDAP and ActiveDirectory, or email storage systems. A data store may be accessible viaa complex API (such as, for example, Structured Query Language), asimple API providing only read, write and seek operations, or any levelof complexity in between. Some data stores may additionally providemanagement functions for data sets stored therein such as backup orversioning. Data stores can be local to a single computer such ascomputer 128, accessible on a local network such as local network 126,or remotely accessible over Internet 132. Local network 126 is in turnconnected to Internet 132, which connects many networks such as localnetwork 126, remote network 134 or directly attached computers such ascomputer 136. In some embodiments, computer 102 can itself be directlyconnected to Internet 132.

III. Unified Payment Vehicle

Broadly, certain embodiments of the invention provide a unified paymentvehicle capable of automatically allocating a payment made by the useramong a number of financial accounts according to rules configured bythe user. For example, the user may configure a rule to allocatepayments first to the funding account that provides the most rewards fora given purchase. Embodiments of the invention can further allocate asingle purchase among multiple payment accounts. This can be used, forexample, to automatically aggregate credit limits where no singlefunding account has sufficient credit to fund the purchase alone. Inthis way, the user is spared the need to keep track of the availablecredit remaining for each account.

A. Elements of the System

Turning now to FIG. 2, a first system in accordance with embodiments ofthe invention is depicted. When making a purchase, user 202 presentspayment vehicle 204 to merchant 206. In some embodiments, paymentvehicle is a conventional credit card with an account number encoded onthe magnetic stripe. In other embodiments, payment vehicle 204 is achip-and-PIN card containing an embedded microcontroller and memory. Instill other embodiments, payment vehicle is a smartphone equipped withan application for Near-Field Communication (NFC) payments,Quick-Response (QR) Code payments, or other mobile payments. In yetother embodiments, payment vehicle 204 is a contactless payment devicesuch as an RFID key fob or an analog payment vehicle such as ahandwritten check. Payment vehicle 204 can also be any representation ofa peer-to-peer currency store, such as a Bitcoin wallet.

In some embodiments, the user may have multiple payment vehicles 204 forthe same account. For example, a married couple may each have their ownpayment vehicle 204 that is linked to the same set of underlying fundingaccounts and funding rules. In some such embodiments, the user may havethe option of multiple types of funding vehicle to present, each ofwhich ties to the same set of underlying funding accounts and fundingrules. Thus the user might pay with a credit card or a check, but thepayment would be allocated among the funding accounts the sameregardless of which they choose.

In some embodiments, merchant 206 accepts payment vehicle 204 using apoint-of-sale (POS) terminal specially designed to operate with thesystem; in other embodiments, merchant 206 accepts payment vehicle usingconventional POS equipment as it would with any other payment vehicle ofthe corresponding type (credit card, debit card, etc.).

When presented with payment vehicle 204, merchant 206 submits, vianetwork 208, transaction information to payment clearinghouse 210. Insome embodiments, this transaction information includes an accountnumber, a payment amount, and a merchant identifier. Additional orequivalent information may also be included. For example, instead ofincluding the user's account number, a single-use security code can betransmitted that identifies the user's account but cannot be used tomake subsequent purchases. Similarly, instead of a merchant identifier,an account number (which may or may not be linkable to the merchant)into which the payment should be deposited can be provided.

Additional information characterizing the purchase may also be includedin the transaction information. For example, a merchant category such as“entertainment,” “grocery,” “gas,” “restaurant,” etc. can be included.In some embodiments, this information is identified with the merchantand is the same for every purchase from that merchant. In otherembodiments, the merchant category is determined for the individualpurchase based on the preponderant component of the purchase. Thus, if auser purchases a cup of coffee and a tank of gas at a gas station, themerchant category would be provided as “gas,” but if the customerinstead purchased only lottery tickets at that same gas station, themerchant category would be provided as “entertainment.” In still otherembodiments, the category may be broken down by amount; thus, in theabove example, the transaction information could include separateamounts and categories for the coffee and the gas. In yet otherembodiments, the merchant category can be provided by (or overridden by)the user at the time of purchase.

It is the function of payment clearing house 208 to determine whetherthe transaction is to be authorized. In conventional payment systems,this role is performed by, for example, a credit card interchange forcredit card transactions or an automated clearing house (ACH) for debittransactions. The clearing house 208 receives the request, queries theissuing financial institution 212 to determine funds availability, andapproves or declines the transaction.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2, funding account selector 214 islocated in the clearing house. In other embodiments, funding accountselector 214 may be located at financial institution 212 or integratedinto payment vehicle 204. As discussed in greater detail below withrespect to FIG. 4, it is the purposed of funding account selector 214 todetermine, based on the rules stored in rules data store 216 and thetransaction information received from the merchant, how to allocate thepayment for the transaction across the available funding accounts. Asthe funding accounts may be distributed among the financial institutions212, the process of allocating the payment may involve multiple queriesto confirm that all balances of the funding accounts for a proposedallocation are sufficient. Allocating payment among funding accounts isdiscussed in greater detail below with respect to FIG. 5.

Once the allocation is determined, the payment can be divided accordingto the allocation, and the merchant can be notified that the transactionis approved. Alternatively, if no allocation consistent with the ruleswas found, the merchant can be notified that the transaction isrejected. In this way, funding account selector 214 is an intermediarybetween the merchant and the payment clearing house to automaticallyselect the best source (or sources) of payment for the transaction.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a second system in accordance with embodiments ofthe invention is depicted. The system depicted in FIG. 3 may operateinstead of or in parallel with the system depicted in FIG. 2. Where user202 has a simple payment vehicle 204, e.g., a magnetic-stripe card, user302 has a more capable chip-and-PIN payment vehicle 304, whichintegrates funding account selector 306 and user-specific rules datastore 308. In this embodiment, payment vehicle 304 receives thetransaction information from merchant 310. Here, because funding accountselector 306 is incorporated into the payment vehicle itself, thepayment can be allocated among the funding accounts on the paymentvehicle itself. In this way, the payment vehicle can provide theappropriate account information corresponding to the payment allocationat merchant point-of-sale 310. If the payment is allocated to only asingle funding account, then payment vehicle 304 may interact withmerchant point-of-sale 310 as a normal chip-and-PIN card. If, on theother hand, the payment is to be allocated across multiple fundingaccounts, then payment vehicle may instead generate multipletransactions, each corresponding to a different portion of the paymentand a different funding vehicle. Each of these transactions can then beprocessed by merchant point-of-sale 310 in the usual way, beingtransmitted via network 312 to payment clearinghouse 314 and from thereon to financial institution 316 corresponding to the funding account.

As discussed above, other variations on payment vehicle 304 arepossible. For example, a mobile payment app on a smartphone couldsimilarly include a user-specific rules data store 308 and fundingaccount selector 306. In such an embodiment, the payment allocationcould be presented to user 302 prior for confirmation prior to beingtransmitted to merchant point-of-sale 310. Similarly, if the fundingaccount selector rejects the transaction because it cannot be allocatedamong the budgeting accounts, the user may be presented with the optionto override the budgeting rejection or reallocate funds among thebudgeting accounts. Alternatively, where payment vehicle 304 takes theform of a check, the allocation of the payment across funding accountsmay not take place until the check is presented to the paying bank forpayment. In still other embodiments, rules data store 308 may be locatedin the cloud and accessed by one or more payment vehicles 304 for theuser.

In embodiments where multiple payment vehicles 304 are tied to the sameunderlying set of underlying funding accounts, and in particular wherethe funding rules reside on payment vehicle 304 itself (e.g., where therules are stored in the memory of a smartphone and payments are madeusing a mobile payment app, or when the rules are stored in the memoryof a chip-and-PIN smartcard used to make the payments), each paymentvehicle 304 may have its own rules data store with distinct rules forthat payment vehicle. For example, each member of a married couple mighteach use their own separate funding account for a first class ofpurchases, a shared account for a second class of purchases, and haveaccess to the other's accounts for emergencies. In other embodiments,rules are shared in common for all payment vehicles 304 tied to the sameset of underlying funding accounts.

B. Payment Processing

Turning now to FIG. 4, a method of processing a payment in accordancewith embodiments of the invention is depicted and referred to generallyby reference numeral 400. Method 400 begins at a step 402, wheretransaction information is received from the merchant. The transactioninformation broadly includes a payment amount and may include additionalinformation that can be used in the allocation of the payment tofunding. For example, the transaction information may include a merchantcategory and/or merchant identifier. The transaction information mayalso include one or more categories for the goods or services that arethe subject matter of the transaction as well, as opposed to generallyapplicable to the merchant. Thus, for example, the merchant category foran oil change at a Wal-Mart might be “grocery,” (since Wal-Martgenerally is categorized as a grocery store for the purposes) themerchant identifier might be “Wal-Mart,” and the transaction categorymight be “automotive services” (since this particular transactionrelates to automotive services as opposed to groceries). In someembodiments, the user might be able to supply additional information(such as a category for the transaction) as part of the payment processthat supplements or overrides the information supplied by the merchant.For example, the user might be able to override the automaticallysupplied merchant or transaction category for a particular transactionat the point-of-sale. In some embodiments of the invention, thisinformation is received by a funding account selector, such as fundingaccount selector 214 or funding account selector 306, which can belocated at a variety of locations throughout the payment-processingnetwork. In other embodiments, the user can generally override themerchant category for a particular merchant for all transaction at thatmerchant. For example, if Wal-Mart's merchant category is “grocery,” buta particular user only ever purchases automotive services there, theuser can generally override Wal-Mart's merchant category to reflectthat.

At step 404, an allocation of the payment across funding accountsaccording to the rules in the rule data store is attempted. The rulesfor determining the allocation can be based on any data included in thetransaction information. However, allocation of payments among fundingaccounts can also be based on information intrinsic to the fundingaccounts, such as the details of their rewards programs. For example,the user may configure rules to allocate payments first to a particularcredit card with the highest cash rewards rate. Once the availablebalance on that credit card is exhausted, the payment may then beallocated to another card with the next highest rate, and so on. Becausesome funding accounts may offer rewards programs only for particularmerchant categories or individual merchants, the allocation may differfrom transaction to transaction even before the balance on a fundingaccount is exhausted. Furthermore, rewards programs may be capped at acertain amount that can be reached before the available credit isexhausted, which may also affect the allocation of funds. In addition,payments can be divided between more than one funding account if nosingle account has sufficient credit available (i.e., the availablecredit limits can be aggregated), or if doing so would result in anincreased cash reward, or if the user has otherwise configured rules fordoing so. One of skill in the art will appreciate that differentpayments, to the same or to different merchants may be allocateddifferently among the funding accounts. Furthermore, multiple paymentvehicles accessing the same set of rules and funding accounts (e.g.,multiple cards for the same account) may allocate fund differently amongthe funding accounts based on the particular payment vehicle itself.Configuring and applying rules for allocating payments across fundingaccount is discussed in greater detail below with respect to FIGS. 5 and6.

Next, at decision 406, it is determined whether any allocation of thepayment across the funding accounts satisfies the rules configured bythe user. If no such allocation exists (for example, because the totalcredit remaining to the user is less than the payment amount),processing moves to step 408, where the transaction is rejected. On theother hand, if the transaction was successfully allocated among thefunding accounts, processing instead moves to step 410. At step 408, thetransaction is rejected. In some embodiments, the reason for therejection is specified to the user. In some embodiments, this rejectionis made before the payment is submitted to the merchant point-of-sale,while in other embodiments, the payment is submitted to the merchantpoint-of-sale, the allocation is performed at the payment clearing houseor the financial institution, and the rejection is transmitted back tothe user via the merchant point-of sale.

At step 410, the transaction is approved, which allows the user'spurchase to proceed. If the funding account selector resides on thepayment vehicle, this transaction approval can result in one or moreconventional transactions being submitted through the merchant point-ofsale according the allocation determined at step 404. This may alsocause stored information regarding the funding accounts (e.g., therewards accrued and the credit balances remaining) to be updated. If, onthe other hand, the funding account selector resides at a financialinstitution such as financial institution 316 or a payment clearinghousesuch as payment clearinghouse 314, then this transaction approval maytake the form of a conventional transaction approval as known in theart.

Although FIG. 4 depicts method 400 as having certain steps, embodimentsof the inventions may only include some of these steps, or may includeother steps not depicted. For example, step 404 may then be followed bythe elements of step 410 involving updating the balances of the fundingaccounts, with the transmission of the transaction approval sent byanother actor. Such embodiments, as well as other combinations of stepsand substeps, are contemplated as being within the scope of theinvention.

C. Funding Accounts and Rules

Turning now to FIG. 5, an exemplary interface for allowing a user toconfigure funding account rules is depicted and referred to generally byreference numeral 500. In some embodiments, the invention is operablewith only a single rule. In other embodiments, a plurality of rules areemployed. Rule 502, as depicted, is in the process of being configured,and includes various exemplary parameters useable when creating a rule.In some embodiments, a rule such as rule 502 begins with a condition,comprising a criterion 504, a relation 506, and a value 508, andconcludes with an allocation, comprising an action 510 and a target 512.Each of these components is discussed in greater detail below, withexemplary values that might be used in constructing a rule. However,these exemplary values are intended to be illustrative rather thanexhaustive, and values other than those listed are contemplated andconsidered to be within the scope of embodiments of the invention.

Criterion 504 can be, as discussed above, any value included in thetransaction information provided by the merchant point-of-sale, valuesintrinsic to the funding accounts, or some other value. Depicted in FIG.5 is a dropdown menu from which the user can select the criterion forthe rule, including values for the amount of the purchase, theparticular merchant, the merchant category, or a user-suppliedtransaction category. Other possible values include a current accountbalance for a particular funding account, an available account balancefor a particular funding account, and a merchant-supplied transactioncategory. Other methods for the user to enter the criterion, such asfree-form entry, radio buttons, and so forth, are also contemplated asways of allowing the user to select the criterion.

Relation 506 specifies the relation between the criterion and the value508 that must be met before the rule is applied. For example, if the“equals” relation is selected by the user, then the criterion must matchthe value exactly for the rule to be applied. Other relations allowrules to be configured, for example, to match purchase amounts above orbelow a certain threshold. Other relations not depicted (e.g., “is notequal to”) are also contemplated as being within the scope of theinvention. In some embodiments, not all relations are applicable to allcriteria and may be automatically removed from the list when aninapplicable criterion is selected.

Value 508 is entered by the user to define the value that the criterionmust satisfy before the rule is matched. In some embodiments, value 508is entered as a free-form text entry. In others, possible values arepopulated into a drop-down menu. In still other embodiments, the entryfor value 508 changes depending on the criterion selected. For example,if the criterion is “merchant category,” a drop down including“grocery,” “gas,” and the other merchant categories might be provided,while a criterion of “merchant” might allow free-form text entry and acriterion of “purchase amount” might allow numeric text entry. In someembodiments, a special value of “any” is available that will match anyvalue for the criterion. Thus, one complete condition might be “Ifmerchant is Wal-Mart” and another might be “If purchase amount is lessthan $10.00.” Of course, the flexibility of the funding accountinterface allows the user to specify a virtually limitless number ofpotential conditions. In some embodiments, some or all of the elementsof the condition (or allocation) are fixed in the template provided tothe user and cannot be altered.

In some embodiments, advanced rules can also be constructed. Forexample, compound conditionals can also be formed, linked by Booleanoperators. For example, a user could create a rule to be applied “If themerchant is Wal-Mart AND the purchase amount is less than $10.00.” Othertypes of compound conditionals, such as those linked by the Boolean “OR”operator will be immediately apparent to one of skill in the art, andare also contemplated as being within the scope of the invention. Asanother example, temporary rules may be present in some embodiments,which only apply for a limited time, or until the have allocated aparticular amount of funds.

The allocation portion of a rule begins with the action 510 to take. Forexample, a given payment might be applied against the funding accountspecified by target 512. In some embodiments, the “apply to” actionfurther allows the user to specify a portion of the payment (either asan absolute amount or a percentage of the total payment). Thus, bycombining rules as described in greater detail below, a user couldallocate 25% of grocery payments to a first funding account, 30% to asecond account, 40% to a third account, and the remaining 5% to a finalaccount.

Alternatively, action 510 might specify that the payment is to beapplied against whichever funding account will maximize a particularreward type specified by target 512. In such a case, the allocationcould consider the various rewards programs available and the particulartransaction to determine which maximizes the particular reward type. Forexample, a first credit card might offer 1% cash rewards on alltransactions and a second might offer 2% cash rewards on grocerypurchases, but only 0.5% on other transactions. Thus, the same action tomaximize cash rewards would allocate a payment for a gas purchase to thefirst card, but a grocery purchase to the second card. Similar rewardmaximization can also be performed for other reward types such asairline miles. Another example of an action might be to minimize atarget, such as an interest rate, or fees that are charged in a monthwith no purchases. Similarly, particular funding accounts or rewardprograms may have requirements that must be satisfied. For example, aparticular card might have a minimum annual purchase requirement, andpurchases could be allocated to this card until that minimum is met.

Rule 502 can be further configured using buttons 514 and 516. Button 514allows the user to delete a rule that they have created if it is nolonger desired, while buttons 516 allow the user to move the rule up anddown in the order of rule application when multiple rules are present.For example, button 518 can be used to add another rule to the fundingaccount interface, which can be either applied before or after rule 502.Using buttons 516, the user can configure which rule is applied first.Thus, a user might configure a first rule to maximize cash rewards, asecond rule to maximize airline miles, and a third rule to minimizeinterest. According to these rules, payments would be allocated first tothe funding accounts that offered cash rewards, in decreasing order ofreward amount, until the credit for all such accounts is exhausted (oruntil they reach the cap for their rewards programs), then beginallocating transaction to accounts that offer airline miles until thoseaccounts reach their limits, and finally across all accounts, regardlessof their rewards programs, in order of increasing interest rate charges.If the user later begins carrying balances and decides that interestrate is more important than rewards, the third rule can be move up inthe list such that it is applied first. In some embodiments, if morethan one account satisfies a first rule equally, the tie can be brokenby a later rule. In other embodiments, if two accounts satisfy a ruleequally, a transaction can be allocated equally between them. In someembodiments, the user may be able to specify that certain airlines arepreferred, and that miles with those airlines are to be preferred overmiles with non-preferred airlines. In some such embodiments, the usermay be able to specify that, for example, miles with a preferred airlineare to be maximized first, then cash rewards, and then miles with anon-preferred airline.

Finally, some embodiments include a default rule 520 that can be appliedif no other rules are satisfied. As shown, default rule 520 has nocondition, and will accordingly be satisfied for any transaction that isnot satisfied by any other rule. In some embodiments, more than onedefault rule can be present for tie-breaking purposes.

In some embodiments, a user can also select from a variety ofpreconfigured default or non-default rules to ease the configurationprocess. In other embodiments, rules can be automatically generated. Forexample, the user may be able to select from a variety of generalpreferences, such as “maximize my financial benefit” or “minimize myinterest and fees.” Based on the general preferences and the details ofthe user's available funding accounts, rules can be automaticallypopulated to satisfy the user's preferences. Where different rewardsprogram offer different types of rewards, this can be accomplished byestablishing conversion factors between the different types of rewards(e.g., 100 airline miles are worth $1 in cash rewards). In some suchembodiments, a higher financial rewards rate might be offset by a higherinterest rate when determining a funding account, or vice versa. In somesuch embodiments, the conversion rates between types of rewards can bedynamic, and change based on a variety of factors including time ofpurchase, airline, or accrued rewards balance. For example, the user mayspecify that they are planning a trip on a particular airline to aparticular destination, resulting in a temporarily increased conversionrate for miles on that airline until sufficient miles have been accruedto purchase the desired ticket. Other factors for temporarily orpermanently adjusting conversion rates are also contemplated as beingwithin the scope of the invention.

One of skill in the art will appreciate that a variety of methods ofconfiguring funding account rules equivalent to the above-describedinterface exist and are contemplated as being within the scope of theinvention.

D. Account List

Turning briefly to FIG. 6, an exemplary interface for allowing a user toview, add, and delete funding accounts is depicted and referred togenerally by reference numeral 600. Interface 600 includes list offunding accounts 602. In some embodiments, the invention is operablewith only a single finding interface. In other embodiments, a pluralityof funding accounts can be used. When entering a funding account, theuser specifies the account type and number 604, as needed to chargetransactions against that account, the details of any rewards programassociated with the account 606, and the credit limit 608. A fundingaccount may have multiple types of reward programs available. Forexample, a given credit card may offer 5% cash back on gas purchases,and 1% back on other transactions. Furthermore, these rewards programsmay be limited by date or by value; for example, a card could offer 5%back on all grocery purchases up to a maximum of $1,000 during the monthof May. As discussed above, a user may have certain preferred airlinesfor miles rewards programs; in some such embodiments, the user mayspecify such preferred airlines (or rank airlines in order ofpreference) in interface 600 as well.

Alternatively, one card may require a certain minimum dollar amount ofpurchases within a pre-set time period to obtain a particular benefit,such as a lump payment of points on the card. In some embodiments, theuser specifies these rewards programs when adding the funding account oradds them later. In other embodiments, the details of the rewardsprograms may be automatically imported, such as from the correspondingfinancial institution. In some embodiments, additional information aboutthe funding account such as fees, minimum charges, etc. can also bespecified in the account interface to allow the funding account to beallocated more accurately. In some embodiments, the details providedabout the funding accounts in the interface 600 determine the actionsthe user can specify in the funding account interface 500. The user canalso specify the credit limit 608 for the funding account. Some fundingaccounts may not have any pre-set credit limit, while some accounts maybe limited to a corresponding balance in a bank account. The user canadd additional funding accounts to funding account list 602 using addaccount button 610.

E. Exemplary Payment Allocation

To more clearly illustrate the operation of embodiments of theinvention, an exemplary scenario is provided. A user initially enrollingin the system receives a chip-and-PIN payment card together withinstructions for accessing the online portal of the issuing financialinstitution in order to configure funding account rules. When the userinitially accesses interface 500, a single default rule has beenprovided to minimize interest rates. Using interface 600, the user addstwo funding accounts: a first account offering 5% cash back on gaspurchases, with a $1,000 credit limit and a 7% APR, and a second accountoffering 1.5% back on grocery purchases, also with a $1,000 credit limitand a 11% APR. The user then uses interface 500 to add a rule tomaximize cash rewards for all purchases.

The user then uses the payment vehicle to make a first purchase of $40worth of gas. When the funding account selector receives the transactioninformation, the merchant category of “gas” causes the user's “maximizecash rewards” rule to allocate the payment to the first funding account(which would produce a cash reward of $2). The payment vehicle thereforeprovides the account details corresponding to the first account to thegas station's merchant point-of-sale. If the user then makes a secondpurchase of $100 worth of groceries, the payment vehicle would insteadprovide the account details corresponding to the second account (therebyproducing a cash reward of $1.50) based on this same rule.

Next, the user attempts to make a purchase of $1,500 worth of furnitureusing the payment vehicle. The funding account selector first determinesthat neither funding account has a sufficient remaining credit balanceto fund the transaction, but that the combined credit limit issufficient. Accordingly funding account selector determines that creditlimit aggregation is needed for this transaction. However, it remains tobe determined how much of the purchase to allocate to each fundingaccount: $960 could be allocated to the first account and $540 to thesecond, $600 could be allocated to the first account and $900 to thesecond, or any allocation between. Accordingly, the rules data store isagain consulted. Since neither funding account provides any cash rewardsfor this type of purchase, the rule provided by the user results in atie, and processing proceeds to the next rule (i.e., to minimizeinterest rates). As the first account has a lower interest rate, thepayment is allocated first to that account until its credit limit isexhausted, and then to the second account, resulting in the $960/$540allocation described above. Of course, this exemplary scenario is purelyillustrative, and many other accounts, rules, and allocations arepossible within the scope of the invention, depending on the preferencesof the user.

F. Method of Integration with Loyalty Programs

In some embodiments, the payment vehicle may integrate with existingloyalty programs offered by merchants in order to reduce the number ofcards that must be carried by the user. For example, a particularmerchant may offer an existing frequent-shopper loyalty card that acustomer swipes at checkout to access frequent-shopper discounts or“buy-N-get one free” programs, or require that customers scan amembership card before making purchases. Such cards can be loaded ontothe payment vehicle. Then, when making a purchase, the appropriateloyalty program information can be reproduced for presentation to thecashier or point of sale. For example, if the loyalty programinformation is a barcode, the barcode may be reproduced on the displayof a smartphone or a dedicated display (e.g., an e-Ink display) on apayment card. Similarly, information derived from magnetic-stripe cardscan be transmitted to the merchant point-of-sale in the same way thatpayment information is transmitted and in embodiments where the paymentvehicle is a chip-and-pin card, rewards program information can bestored in the memory of the card and transmitted to the chip-and-pinreader when the user makes a purchase. In some embodiments, a magneticstripe option might require multiple swipes (for example, a first swipeto transmit loyalty card information and a second swipe to transmitpayment information); in other embodiments, all relevant information canbe transmitted in a single swipe.

Turning now to FIG. 7, a flowchart illustrating the operation of amethod in accordance with embodiments of the invention is depicted.Initially, at a step 702, loyalty program information is loaded onto thepayment vehicle. For some forms of the payment vehicle, the user mayload loyalty program information directly onto the payment vehicle. Forexample, where the payment vehicle is a mobile payment app loaded on asmartphone, the user may use the smartphone camera to scan and decodebarcodes from frequent shopper cards. Similarly, images of punch cardscan be captured and stored on the payment vehicle for future use. Othertypes of loyalty programs (such as those that use a magnetic stripecard) can be loaded onto the payment vehicle using loyalty programinterface 800. In other embodiments, all loyalty program information isloaded onto the payment vehicle using loyalty program interface 800.Other ways of loading loyalty program information into the system insuch a way that it can be reproduced by the payment vehicle on demand,now known or later developed, are contemplated as being within the scopeof the invention.

Next, at a step 704, other transaction-related information can be loadedonto the payment vehicle for use during the transaction in a similarway. For example, coupons can be loaded onto the payment vehicle in thesame way as the loyalty programs cards described above. Because couponsgenerally include bar codes identifying the relevant manufacturer,product, discount and other information, the corresponding numericinformation can be provided to the point of sale in whatever form ofcommunication is used by the payment vehicle. Furthermore, users can beprovided with coupons and other redeemable offers via loyalty programinterface 800 that can be loaded onto payment vehicle without a physicalcoupon to scan.

In some embodiments, it may be necessary to know the merchant in orderto determine the appropriate funding account, budgeting account,reserved funding account, loyalty program information, and/or couponinformation to present as a part of the transaction. This can bedetermined in one, in one of a number of ways, at step 706. In someembodiments, the merchant point-of-sale can provide the merchantidentifier to the payment vehicle when the transaction is initiated. Inother embodiments, the merchant can be identified by the user via aninterface on the payment vehicle. In still other embodiments, thepayment vehicle can itself identify the merchant. For example, a globalpositioning system in a smartphone could determine a geographic locationfor the transaction, which could in turn be used to determine amerchant. In other embodiments, a merchant could include a beacon intheir point-of-sale that advertises wirelessly (e.g. via near-fieldcommunication or Bluetooth communication) a merchant identifier. In yetother embodiments, a quick-response (QR) code can be provided that acamera in a smartphone can decode to determine the merchant. In someembodiments, determining the merchant so as to identify the applicableaccounts need not happen until account reconciliation occurs.

Once the merchant has been identified, the applicable rewards programsmay be determined in some embodiments at step 708. In some embodiments,the rewards programs applicable to the purchase may depend on themerchant; in others they may not, as described elsewhere. In someembodiments, rewards programs associated with one or more reserved fundsaccounts may be identified at this step. In some embodiments, one ormore merchant rewards programs may be identified at this step. In someembodiments, one or more rewards program based on the funding accountsare determined. In some embodiments, the rewards programs available tothe user given the merchant may be presented to the user once they havebeen determined. In other embodiments, some or all of the rewardsprograms applicable to a given transaction may not be determined untilthe transaction processes or is reconciled.

Similarly, at this point the relevant loyalty programs can be identifiedbased on the merchant identifier at step 710. For example, if the userhas a frequent-shopper card with the merchant, it may be made availablefor scanning or otherwise presentment to the point-of-sale. In addition,any punch-card style “buy-N-get-one-free” programs offered by themerchant may be presented to the user at this stage to remind them oftheir availability. In some embodiments, the individual productsrelevant to any coupons or loyalty programs are identified. In some suchembodiments, this can be done once the user has completed their shoppingand presented their purchases for checkout. In other such embodiments,when the user arrives at the merchant, the relevant products can bepresented to the user in advance as a reminder. For example, if the userhas completed a punch card and is entitled to a free latte at Starbucks,they may be alerted to that fact when they next enter a Starbucks.Finally, at this step, any coupons applicable to the merchant can beidentified at this step. Coupons applicable to the merchant may includecoupons specific to the merchant (e.g., a coupon for 10% off thepurchase of any one item at the merchant) or coupons for products thatmight be purchased at the merchant (e.g., a manufacturer coupon for$1.00 off a particular brand of cereal might be presented at any grocerystore). In some embodiments, the user can select which coupons orloyalty programs to present at this step.

Next, at step 712, the payment vehicle can present all of the determinedinformation to the merchant point-of-sale. For example, where thepayment vehicle is a smartphone-based mobile payment app, the user mightfirst scan a barcode on the screen to activate their loyalty programaccount, then scan another series of barcodes corresponding to couponsfor the merchant or products they have purchased as part of thetransaction, and finally use a near-field communication (NFC) protocolto transfer funding account information to the merchant. As anotherexample, a payment card could include an e-Ink screen to display barcodes for coupons, a programmable magnetic stripe that can be swiped toactivate swipe-based loyalty programs, and a chip-and-pin interface totransmit funding account information. In some embodiments, coupons maybe deleted from the payment vehicle when they are redeemed. Othermethods of communicating with the merchant point-of-sale and ofinterfacing with the user, now known or later devised, are alsocontemplated as being within the scope of the present invention.

At step 714, the payment vehicle can also present relevant punch-cardstyle “buy-N-get-one-free” programs for validation by the merchantpoint-of-sale and/or the cashier in some embodiments. In some suchembodiments, the payment vehicle interacts with merchant point-of-saleto automatically validate the relevant punch cards. In otherembodiments, the payment vehicle is used for manual purchase validation(e.g., by allowing the cashier to initial the touch screen of asmartphone or by using a phone to capture a quick-response codevalidating the purchase). In some embodiments the payment vehicleinteracts with the merchant point-of-sale to determine whether anypunch-card eligible purchases were made as part of the transaction. Inother embodiments, the user makes this determination by selecting or notselecting the punch card at a previous step.

G. Interface for Loyalty Programs

Turning now to FIG. 8, an exemplary interface for managing customerloyalty programs is depicted, and referred to generally by referencenumeral 800. Interface 800 broadly includes frequent shopper programlist 802 and punch card list 818. Frequent shopper program list 802includes a one or more frequent shopper programs 804. Each frequentshopper program 804 includes fields 806, which lists the name of themerchant providing the frequent shopper program; 808, which lists thecustomer identification number associated with the user for theparticular frequent shopper program; and field 810, which lists the wayin which this program should be presented to the point-of-sale. Forexample, a first frequent shopper program could be represented by abarcode, which is displayed on the payment vehicle in a number of waysas discussed above; a second frequent shopper program could require thatan image of the membership card (which could, for example, include apicture of the user and bar codes and/or QR codes encoding the memberID); and a third could require that a magnetic stripe be swiped. Eachfrequent shopper program may also include a “delete” button 812 toremove the frequent shopper program in the event the user leaves thatprogram.

Frequent shopper program list 802 further includes “add” button 814 toallow the user to load additional frequent shopper programs onto thepayment vehicle by entering the relevant information for fields 806, 808and 810. In some embodiments, add button 814 may be supplemented by“capture” button 816. Capture button 816 may provide for the automaticimport of the relevant information from a physical frequent shopper cardby, for example, capturing an image of the card, performing imagerecognition to determine a merchant based on the logo to populate field806, decoding the bar code or printed customer number to populate field808, and automatically determining the method of presentment based onthe image and/or a stored database of frequent shopper program types.

Similarly, punch card list 802 includes fields 806 identifying themerchant, 820 identifying the type of product or products that areeligible for punches on the punch card, and 822 indicating the number ofpunches currently on the card and the number needed for redemption. Insome embodiments, when a punch card has been redeemed, the number ofpunches can automatically be reset to zero. In some embodiments,multiple categories of purchases may be present for a single merchant.For example, a Starbucks punch card may have separate categories forcoffees, lattes, and pastries. Each punch card may also include a deletebutton 824, similar to delete button y12 for a frequent shopper card, toallow the user to discard an unwanted punch card. Punch card list 402further includes an add button similar to add button 814 to allow theuser to input information for new punch cards, and a capture buttonsimilar to capture button 828 to allow a user to automatically importnew punch cards.

In some embodiments, Loyalty program interface 400 may further includecoupon list 830. In other embodiments, coupon list 830 may instead be apart of a separate interface. Coupon list 830 includes one or morecoupons entries 832, each of which contains the information necessary toredeem the corresponding coupon. A coupon entry 832 includes a merchantfield 834 describing the merchant or merchants at which the coupon canbe redeemed. For some coupons (e.g., manufacturer's coupons) the couponmay be redeemable at any merchant. A coupon entry further includes afield 836 indicating the product for which the coupon may be redeemed.Again for certain types of coupons, the coupon may be redeemable for anyproduct at a specified merchant. In some embodiments, coupon entry 832may further include the discount amount of the coupon either forredeeming the coupon or for presenting the coupon to the user. Couponentry 832 further includes identity data 840 for the coupon. In someembodiments, identity data 840 may include a bar code that can bescanned when the coupon is redeemed. In other embodiments, identity data840 may be numeric data that can be transmitted to the merchantpoint-of-sale, converted to a barcode for display, or otherwisepresented at redemption. In still other embodiments, such as thedepicted embodiment, identity data 840 may instead be an image of thecoupon for display on a screen of the payment vehicle when the coupon isredeemed. Coupon list 830 may also include delete buttons 842 to allow auser to discard a coupon, add button 844 to allow a user to load a newcoupon onto the payment vehicle, and capture button 846 to allow a userto automatically import a coupon by capturing its image scanning itsbarcode, or other ways.

One of skill in the art will immediately recognize that other ways ofpresenting the information in loyalty program interface 800 are alsopossible. For example, frequent shopper program list 802, punch cardlist 818, and coupon list 830 can be presented separately or in anycombination. Similarly each of these lists can include more, fewer, ordifferent fields than shown. Such variations that allow equivalentpresentation and manipulation of the information are also contemplatedas being within the scope of the invention.

IV. Payment Vehicle for Budgeting

At a high level, embodiments of the invention provide for a paymentvehicle that includes a plurality of virtual budgeting accounts to whichdeposits can be allocated and from which payments can be automaticallydeducted based on transaction information and rules configured by theuser. For example, when loading funds onto the payment vehicle, the usercan allocate those funds among the budget accounts they have previouslycreated. Then, when making purchases, the funds will be deducted fromthe appropriate virtual budgeting accounts. If insufficient funds remainin the appropriate budget account, then the card can be declined forthat purchase, thereby automating the process of compliance with theuser's defined budget.

Because of the ease of creating and charging purchases against budgetaccounts, the user can create more detailed budgets without increasingthe complexity of the budgeting process. Furthermore, budget accountscan be automatically replenished when new funds are received or on aregular schedule. For example, a user who receives a lump-sum paymentcan configure a budget such that a portion of the funds is allocated toa given virtual budgeting account each month. Similarly, regulardeposits, such as payroll deposits, can be automatically allocated amongvirtual budgeting accounts when they are received. Such automaticallocations can be apportioned as a dollar amount, a fraction of thedeposit, or a combination of both. For example, a user could configure amonthly payroll deposit such that $100 is allocated to a “gas” virtualbudgeting account, $750 is allocated to a “rent” virtual budgetingaccount, and the remainder is split evenly between “groceries” and“entertainment” virtual budgeting accounts. If the user then receives a$100 per month raise, then the raise would automatically split betweenthe “groceries” and “entertainment” virtual budgeting accounts withoutfurther configuration.

A. Elements of the System

Turning now to FIG. 9A, a system diagram including certain componentsused in practicing embodiments of the invention is depicted. Whencompleting a transaction such as a purchase, user 902 presents paymentvehicle 904 to merchant point-of-sale 906. In some embodiments, paymentvehicle 904 is a conventional prepaid debit card with a magnetic stripeencoding account information. In other embodiments, payment vehicle 904is a chip-and-PIN card encoding account information with an embeddedmicroprocessor and memory. In still other embodiments, payment vehicle904 is a smartphone app for mobile payments storing account informationin a computer-readable medium in the smartphone. In yet otherembodiments, payment vehicle 904 is a Near-Field Communications (NFC)device or RFID device that wirelessly transmits account or other paymentinformation to point-of-sale 906. Other forms of payment vehicle, nowknown or later developed, as also contemplated as being within the scopeof the invention. Though the embodiments of the invention below arediscussed in the context of a prepaid debit card, one of skill in theart will be able to immediately apply these concepts to other forms ofpayment vehicle, and such embodiments are contemplated as being withinthe scope of the invention.

Merchant point-of-sale 906 collects transaction information from user902 and the merchant. For example, it might receive a payment amount forthe transaction and information identifying the merchant from themerchant, and account information and payment authorization informationfrom user 902. In some embodiments, user 902 might be required to entera PIN to authorize the transaction. In other embodiments, user 902 mightauthorize the transaction by providing authentication information topayment vehicle 904 (e.g., by scanning their fingerprint on afingerprint reader), and the authorization information might not beprovided to point-of-sale 906. In some embodiments, user 902 may supplyadditional information to determine (or override automaticallydetermined) virtual budgeting accounts for the transaction. Whenpoint-of-sale 906 has collected the necessary transaction information,it transmits it via network 908 to payment clearinghouse 910.

Payment clearinghouse 910 serves as an interchange between merchants andfinancial institutions such as financial institution 912. Based on thetransaction information provided by point-of-sale 906, paymentclearinghouse 910 determines the appropriate financial institution 912and verifies with financial institution 912 that user 902 has sufficientfunds (in the form of available credit or account balance) to cover thepayment. In some embodiments of the invention, this query can alsoverify that the appropriate virtual budgeting account has enough balanceremaining to cover the payment using budgeting account selector 914 andrules data store 916.

Budgeting account selector 914 is responsible for determining which ofthe virtual budgeting accounts of user 902 should be charged for thispurchase. In some embodiments, a single budgeting account selector 914is employed for all transactions by all users, and could be located atpayment clearinghouse 910. In other embodiments, financial institution912 has its own budgeting account selector 914 for accounts drawn onthat financial institution. In still other embodiments, each user of thesystem has an individual budgeting account selector 914, and it can belocated in payment vehicle 904. Other distributions of, and locationsfor, budgeting account selector 914 are also contemplated as beingwithin the scope of the invention. The process whereby budgeting accountselector 914 determines the appropriate virtual budgeting account for aparticular transaction is described in greater detail below, andparticularly with respect to payment assignment rules interface 1200.

In the process of determining the appropriate virtual budgeting accountfor the transaction, budgeting account selector 914 consults rules datastore 916 to retrieve the rules configured by user 902. In someembodiments, a single rules data store stores the rules for all users.In other embodiments, each financial institution 912 has a single rulesdata store for all of the payment vehicles it issues. In still otherembodiments, each budgeting account selector 914 has a correspondingrules data store 916. In yet other embodiments, each user 902 has adedicated rules data store 916. In some embodiments, only one rules datastore 916 stores payment rules information for a given user 902. Inother embodiments, the rules for a given user 902 are distributed amonga plurality of rules data stores such as rules data store 916, each ofwhich can be consulted as necessary by a budgeting account selector suchas budgeting account selector 914.

Once budgeting account selector 914 determines the assigned virtualbudgeting account for the transaction being conducted, it must bedetermined whether the balance remaining in the determined virtualbudgeting account is sufficient to fund the transaction. In someembodiments, this determination is made by budget account selector 914based on balance information stored in rules data store 916. In otherembodiments, it is made by financial institution 912. In still otherembodiments, a separate component maintains the balances of the virtualbudgeting accounts and determines whether a given transaction satisfiesthe user's budget. If the transaction satisfies user 902's budgetingrules, financial institution can proceed to determine whether thepayment amount for the transaction falls with the total balanceremaining on the payment vehicle, and send an transaction approval tothe merchant point-of-sale 906 if so.

Turning now to FIG. 9B, an alternate system diagram including analternate arrangement of the components of FIG. 9A, as used inpracticing other embodiments of the invention is depicted. Where FIG. 9Adepicts budgeting account selector 914 and rules data store 916 as beingpresent at financial institution 912, FIG. 9B instead depicts them asbeing present on payment vehicle 904. This may be the case where, forexample, payment vehicle 904 takes the form of a chip-and-PIN card (asdepicted) or the form of a mobile payment app on a smartphone. Asdiscussed elsewhere, such embodiments have the advantage that theyrequire no changes to merchant point-of-sale 906 or financialinstitution 912; rather, the budgeting can take place locally and beforethe transaction is submitted to financial institution 912. Additionally,this may provide a more flexible user interface for the user to assign avirtual budget account (or override an automatically assigned virtualbudget account) for the transaction, override a budgeting rejection, andother management functions.

B. Payment Assignment Method

Turning now to FIG. 10, a flowchart depicting the operation of a methodin accordance with embodiments of the invention is depicted. The methodbegins at a step 1002, when transaction information is received. In someembodiments, this information is received (directly or indirectly) frompoint-of-sale 906. Broadly, the transaction information may include apayment amount and an identifier of the merchant that is a party to thetransaction. In other embodiments, it may include additionalinformation, such as a merchant category or information supplied by theuser. Examples of such information supplied by the user include one ormore budgeting account indicators to supplement or override anautomatically determined virtual budgeting account, authenticationand/or authorization information, and budgeting override information.

Next, at a step 1004, the payment amount is assigned to the user'svirtual budgeting accounts according to rules configured by the userand/or default rules. Broadly speaking, rules comprise a condition,which determines whether they apply to a particular payment, and anassignment, which determines which virtual budgeting account or accountsthe payment should be applied to. The condition may be based on anyindication for a virtual budget account specified by the user. Forexample, merchant category, merchant name, and many other items oftransaction information can act as indications for a virtual budgetingaccount. In some embodiments, the user can also specify the virtualbudgeting account at the time of the transaction. Rules, and theirconditions, are discussed in greater detail below with respect to FIG.12. In some embodiments, multiple rules may apply to a giventransaction, and payments may be assigned according to the rules jointlyor in order. In some embodiments, rules may assign payments amongmultiple virtual budgeting accounts statically as defined by the rulesor dynamically according to the details of the transaction. Theassignment of payments is also discussed in greater detail below, andparticularly with respect to FIG. 12.

Processing then proceeds to decision 1006, where it is determined if thepayment could be assigned among the user's virtual budgeting accounts inaccordance with their rules. Broadly, a payment can be assignedsuccessfully if a feasible assignment exists; i.e., if rules exist forthe user that assign the entire payment amount to one or more virtualbudgeting accounts in such a way that no virtual budgeting accountexceeds the funds it has available. In some embodiments, rules may allowfor multiple potential assignments (some, all, or none of which may befeasible). In such embodiments, the assignment selected among multiplefeasible assignments can be determined based on the ordering of theuser's rules. In some embodiments, spillover rules may be permitted suchthat, if an otherwise-feasible assignment would cause a particularbudgeting category to exceed its available funds, the excess can bededucted from a spillover account. In some such embodiments, a singleshared spillover account is shared by all virtual budgeting accounts,while in other embodiments, different accounts may have differentspillover accounts. If a feasible budgeting assignment exists,processing proceeds to step 1008. If no feasible budgeting assignmentexists, processing instead jumps to step 1010.

At step 1008, the amount assigned to each virtual budgeting account isdeducted from the remaining balance in the corresponding account.Because of the assignment determined at step 1004, these deductions willnot reduce any virtual budgeting account below a zero balance. In someembodiments, the updated balances for each affected account aredisplayed to the user. In some embodiments, the user can, in addition orinstead, log on to an online banking interface to view the balancesremaining for each virtual budgeting account. Other methods of checkingvirtual budgeting account balances, such as an automated telephonicresponse system, are also contemplated and considered to be within thescope of the invention. Processing then proceeds to decision 1014.

If, at decision 1006, it was determined that no feasible budgetingassignment existed, a budgeting rejection is sent at step 1010. Thisbudgeting rejection may take different forms for different forms ofpayment vehicle 904. For example, for a magnetic stripe card, thebudgeting rejection may be a conventional “card declined” message. Asanother example, if payment vehicle 904 is a mobile payment app on asmartphone, the budgeting rejection may take the form of a pop-up ormodal alert on the app indicating that the current transaction violatesthe user's budget. Other forms of budgeting rejection for these or othertypes of payment vehicle are also contemplated and considered to bewithin the scope of the invention. In some embodiments, budgetingrejections are “soft” rejections that can be overridden by the user. Inthis way, a user can make purchases in an emergency even if thetransaction does not fall within their budget. In other embodiments,budgeting rejections are “hard” rejections that cannot be overridden. Instill other embodiments, the user can choose to make certain virtualbudgeting accounts subject to soft rejections while other virtualbudgeting accounts are subject to hard rejections. In yet otherembodiments, budgeting rejections are purely advisory; for example, theymay cause an alert on the payment vehicle that the current transactionviolates the user's budget, and it is then up to the user to proceedwith the transaction or cancel it. In various embodiments, budgetingrejections may be issued by financial institution 912, by paymentvehicle 904 and/or by interchange 910, and the form of a rejection maydepend on its issuer. Once the budgeting rejection has been issued,processing proceeds to decision 1012.

At decision 1012, it is determined whether a budgeting override wasreceived from the user. As described above, some budgeting rejectionsmay not be subject to override and processing may terminate instead. Inthe embodiment depicted in FIG. 10, such a budgeting override isreceived after the initial budgeting rejection was sent at step 1010. Inother embodiments, however, the budgeting override is received with thetransaction information at step 1002. In such cases, if a budgetingoverride was received and decision 1006 determines that no feasibleassignment exists, processing may proceed directly to decision 1014. Instill other embodiments, the user may have the option to provide abudgeting override either with the initial transaction information or inresponse to a budgeting rejection. The form of the budgeting overridedepends on the form of payment vehicle 904 and how (and whether) thebudgeting rejection was sent at step 1010. For example, if a “carddeclined” message was sent to indicate a budgeting failure, then aresubmission of the same (or substantially the same) transactioninformation within a predetermined time period (for example, fiveminutes, ten minutes, or fifteen minutes) may be interpreted as abudgeting override. As another example, if the budgeting rejection tookthe form of a pop-up or modal alert in a smartphone app, then optionsmay be provided to the user as part of that alert to accept or overridethe budgeting rejection. In some embodiments, the user may be able tospecify rules for automatically generating budgeting overrides. Forexample, a user may specify that transactions from a given merchantshould be deducted from a given virtual budgeting account if fundsremain, but no transactions at that merchant should ever be rejected forbudgeting reasons. Such rules can be constructed for a variety ofconditions, as described below with respect to FIG. 12. Such automaticbudgeting override rules can act in conjunction with, or in place of,spillover virtual budgeting accounts, as discussed elsewhere. If nobudgeting override is received, the method terminates. In embodimentswhere no rejection was sent to the merchant at 1010, a rejection may besent to the merchant at this point, prior to termination. If a budgetingoverride is received, processing instead proceeds to step 1014.

At step 1014, it is determined whether sufficient balance remains on thepayment vehicle to cover the payment amount. This step may be necessary,for example, if one or more budgeting overrides have been performed forthis or previous transactions. In some embodiments, decision 1014 ismade by a different actor than decision 1006. For example, decision 1006may be made by logic residing on a chip-and-PIN card or by a mobilepayment app on a smartphone, while decision 1014 may be made financialinstitution 912. If insufficient funds remain on the payment vehicle tofund the transaction, processing proceeds to step 1016. Otherwise, ifsufficient funds remain on the payment vehicle for the payment,processing instead proceeds to step 1018.

At step 1016, a rejection is sent based on insufficient funds remainingon the payment vehicle. In some embodiments, the lack of sufficientfunds remaining on the payment vehicle will cause a hard rejection asopposed to the soft (i.e., overrideable) budgeting rejection caused by avirtual budgeting account lacking sufficient funds for the transactionas assigned to the user's virtual budgeting accounts by the user'srules. After the rejection is sent, the method terminates.

If, on the other hand, sufficient funds remain on the payment vehicle tofund the transaction, processing instead proceeds from decision 1014 tostep 1018. At step 1018, the payment balance is deducted from thebalance of the funds remaining on payment vehicle 904. One of skill inthe art will appreciate that this processing operates in accordance witha conventional prepaid card or other prepaid payment vehicle. Processingthen proceeds to step 1020 where the transaction is approved. In someembodiments, the transaction is approved by financial institution 912and an approval of the transaction is sent to merchant point-of sale 906in accordance with conventional point-of-sale processing of a prepaidcard. In other embodiments, this approving takes place on paymentvehicle and “approving the transaction” takes the forms of submittingthe transaction to financial institution 912 for further processing. Insome embodiments, an approved transaction means that the transactionsatisfies the user's budget; in other embodiments, it also means thatfunds are available on the payment vehicle to find the transaction. Itis an advantage of certain embodiments of the invention that merchantpoint-of-sale 906 can process payment vehicle 904 without anymodification; all special processing is contained within budgetingaccount selector 914 and rules data store 916.

C. Budgeting Interface

Turning now to FIG. 11, an exemplary budgeting interface in accordancewith embodiments of the invention is depicted, and referred to generallyby reference numeral 400. Broadly speaking, budgeting interface 1100allows user 902 to manage the funds on payment vehicle 904 and virtualbudgeting accounts for payment vehicle 904. For example, user 902 canadd funds to the payment vehicle, establish and manage virtual budgetingaccounts, and view payment vehicle and virtual budgeting accountbalances.

Account interface 1102 allows user 902 to manage funds across theprepaid account. Information displayed for user 902 includes accountbalance 1104 and unallocated account balance 1106. While account balance1104 represents the total funds available to user 902 (as on aconventional prepaid card), unallocated balance 1106 represents a poolof available funds that have not yet been apportioned to any virtualbudgeting account. In some embodiments, unallocated balance 1106corresponds to the spillover account described above. In otherembodiments, a separate spillover account is included with the rest ofthe virtual budgeting accounts. In still other embodiments, thespillover account can be any other virtual budgeting account, which mayhave payments assigned to it as usual.

Account user interface 1102 may further provide user 902 with severaloptions for managing the funds in the prepaid account. For example,button 1108 allows user 902 to reload the payment vehicle withadditional funds. In some embodiments, the account of user 902 can belinked to a bank account of user 902 (either at financial institution912 or another financial institution) such that the funds can be easilytransferred, either in a single lump sum or as a recurring transfer. Inother embodiments, button 1108 takes user 902 to a payment page, as isknown in the art, from which the user can fund the reloading of thepayment vehicle using any of the usual forms of payment made availablein electronic commerce, including but not limited to credit cards, debitcards, electronic clearing house (ECH) payments, online payment services(e.g., PayPal®), gift cards, and so forth. In some embodiments, funds,once loaded onto the payment vehicle, are added both to the card balance1104 (i.e., the balance that is checked in step 1014) and to unallocatedbalance 1106. In such embodiments, user 902 can then allocate the fundsacross one or more virtual budgeting accounts using allocation buttons1110 and 1112.

Allocation button 1110 allows the user to make a one-time allocation ofsome or all of unallocated balance 1106 to one or more virtual budgetingaccounts. In this way, the user can manage one-time influxes of income(e.g., a tax return) or individually manage virtual budgeting accountseach budgeting cycle for greater control. For example, a first usermight allocate the tax return mentioned above in identical proportion totheir usual budget; a second user might allocate it solely to budgetcategories without fixed expenses (e.g., to an “entertainment”category); and a third user might leave it unallocated until anunexpected expense requiring the funds arises.

Recurring allocation button 1112 instead allows the user to makerecurring allocations (i.e., allocations that are repeated eachbudgeting cycle). For example, a user might use reload button 1108 toautomatically load some or all of their paycheck onto the paymentvehicle each pay period. Recurring allocation button 1112 can then beused to automatically allocate a portion of these funds to the user'sbudget accounts each budgeting cycle (which may or may not coincide withthe pay period). Similarly, a one-time, lump-sum deposit of funds may beinitially unallocated, with recurring allocations to the appropriatevirtual budgeting account or accounts spread out over time. It is anadvantage of such embodiments of the invention that they can completelyautomate the process of budgeting compliance for the user: once thesteps of funding the card, allocating the funds and configuring rulesfor payments have been completed, the user can simply use paymentvehicle 904 for all purchases, and those purchases in accordance withthe user's budget will be approved, while those purchases which exceedthe budget will be rejected. Furthermore, budgeting overrides can allowthe user access to all of their funds in the event of an emergency, evenif it violates their budget to do so.

In some embodiments, the user can choose a start date, stop date, amountto be allocated, and frequency for the recurring allocation. Forexample, a user could specify that one the first and fifteenth of eachmonth, funds automatically loaded onto the card from the user's paycheckare to be distributed into the user's virtual budgeting accounts (e.g.,$100 into the virtual budgeting account for gas, $200 into the virtualbudgeting account for groceries, $250 into the virtual budgeting accountfor rent, and the remainder into the virtual budgeting account forentertainment), with the recurring allocation to start immediately andwith no specified stop date. Similarly, the user could specify that a$1,000 tax refund should be initially unallocated and $100 should beallocated into the virtual budgeting account for entertainment eachmonth for the next ten months.

Account interface 1102 may further include reassignment button 1114allowing user 902 to alter the assignment of payments to virtualbudgeting accounts. It may be the case for a given transaction that theautomatically assigned budget account does not accurately reflect theuser's intended budget for the transaction. For example, a user may havepurchased groceries at the gas station, and wish for the payment to bededucted from the virtual budgeting account for groceries rather thanthe (automatically determined) virtual budgeting account for gas. Asanother example, if the user manually entered an incorrect virtualbudgeting account when making the transaction, they can correct theerror using reassignment button 1114. In some embodiments, when user 902selects button 1114, they are presented with a list of recenttransactions, including the merchant information and payment amount forthe transaction together with the virtual budgeting account (oraccounts) to which the payment was assigned. By selecting a transaction,the user can then choose a new budget account (or accounts) for thetransaction. The balance for the previously assigned-to account can thenbe increased by the payment amount, and the balance for the newlyassigned-to account can be decreased. In some embodiments, the user mayalso be provided with the option to add or change a payment assignmentrule (as described in greater detail below) when re-assigning atransaction.

Account interface 1102 may further include a rules interface button foruser 902 to add, edit, or delete rules assigning payments fortransactions to virtual budgeting accounts. Payment assignment rulesinterface 1200 is described in greater detail below with respect to FIG.12. Account interface 1102 may include more or fewer options, displaysor controls than depicted in FIG. 11. One of skill in the art willappreciate that the controls and displays can be implemented in manyways other than that depicted, and all such ways of implementing thefunctionality described are considered to be within the scope of theinvention.

Budgeting interface 1100 further includes budgeting account list 1118.Each virtual budgeting account in budgeting account list 1118 includes aname 1120 for the virtual budgeting account. In some embodiments, theuser creates budgeting account name 1120 when the user adds the virtualbudgeting account. In other embodiments, a number of pre-populatedvirtual budgeting accounts are provided for a new account as suggestionsfor the user in configuring their budget. Each virtual budgeting accountmay further be provided with a delete account button 1122 allowing theuser to remove the corresponding virtual budgeting account. In someembodiments, deleting a virtual budgeting account will return any fundsallocated to it to the unallocated funds balance and remove anyrecurring allocations for that virtual budgeting account. In someembodiments, rules in the payment assignment rules interface forallocating payments to that virtual budgeting account may also bedeleted if the virtual budgeting account is deleted.

In some embodiments of the invention, a “learn” mode may be provided,accessible by a control in budgeting interface 1100. In learn mode, ausers purchases are observed over a period of one or more budgetingcycles (or over any arbitrary period) to determine typical expendituresfor each virtual budgeting account. In some embodiments, these virtualbudgeting accounts are pre-defined virtual budgeting accounts, while inother embodiments, the user's defined virtual budgeting accounts areused instead or in addition. In this way a baseline budget can beestablished, either in terms of percentages of expenditures or inabsolute dollar (or other currency unit) amounts, without requiring theuser to manually calculate and enter the budget for each category.

Also included in budgeting account list 1118 for each virtual budgetingaccount is the remaining balance 1124 of funds that have been allocatedto that account. In some embodiments, the remaining balance 1124 may bea selectable link allowing the user to manage the balance remaining inthe virtual budgeting account by, for example, allocating additionalunallocated funds to the selected virtual budgeting account,de-allocating funds previously allocated to the virtual budgetingaccount, or re-allocating funds from the selected virtual budgetingaccount to another virtual budgeting account. In some embodiments,instead of only the remaining balance 1124 allowing access to thebudgeting account management interface, the entire row for the virtualbudgeting account allows access. In some embodiments, additional viewsof the balance remaining can be presented for quick and easycomprehension by the user. For example, a gas-gauge-style full-to-emptygraphic can be provided for a virtual budgeting account to represent theamount of funds initially allocated to the virtual budgeting account forthe budgeting cycle that remain unspent.

Budgeting account list 1118 may further include scheduled allocations1126 for the virtual budgeting account. In some embodiments, allscheduled and recurring allocations for the virtual budgeting accountare displayed. In other embodiments, only the next allocation of fundsto the virtual budgeting account is displayed. In some embodiments, thescheduled allocation shows the amount of funds and the date on whichthey will be allocated to the virtual budgeting account. In someembodiments, the user can select a scheduled allocation to view detailsof the allocation and/or edit the scheduled allocation. In someembodiments, budgeting account list 1118 further includes add accountbutton 1128, which allows the user to add additional accounts tobudgeting account list 1128, which can then be viewed and edited as withother virtual budgeting accounts.

One of skill in the art will appreciate that the interfaces, options,and displays discussed above with respect to budgeting interface 1100can be arranged and implemented in a variety of ways. For example,account interface 1102 and budgeting account list 1118 could bepresented separately as distinct interfaces to the user, or could becombined with payment assignment rules interface 1200 discussed belowinto a single interface. Similarly, controls and displays discussed inthe context of one interface could instead or in addition be provided inanother interface. All such variations and implementations of thefunctionality discussed herein are considered to be within the scope ofthe invention.

D. Budget Assignment Rules Interface

Turning now to FIG. 12, an interface for configuring rules toautomatically assign payments to virtual budgeting accounts is depictedand generally referred to by reference numeral 1200. Payment assignmentrules interface 1200 broadly comprises one or more rules such as rule1202, together with controls for adding, deleting, and reordering rules.Rule 1202 is in the process of being configured, and includes variousexemplary parameters useable when creating a rule. Rule 1202 begins witha condition, comprising criterion 1204, relation 1206, and value 1208,and concludes with one or more budgeting account assignments 1210, eachcomprising an amount 1212, amount type 1214, and virtual budgetingaccount 1216. Each of these components is discussed in greater detailbelow, with exemplary values that might be used in constructing a rule.However, these exemplary values are intended to be illustrative ratherthan exhaustive, and values other than those listed are contemplated andconsidered to be within the scope of the invention.

Criterion 1204 can be, as discussed above, any value included in thetransaction information provided by the merchant point-of-sale 906, byuser 902, or other value. Depicted in interface 1200 is a dropdown menufrom which the user can select the criterion for the rule, includingvalues for the amount of the purchase, the particular merchant, themerchant category, or a user-supplied transaction category. Otherpossible values include a current account balance for a particularvirtual budgeting account, and a merchant-supplied transaction category.Other methods for the user to enter the criterion, such as free-formentry, radio button, and so forth, are also contemplated as ways ofallowing the user to select the criterion.

Relation 1206 specifies the relation between the criterion 1204 and thevalue 1208 that must be met before the rule is applied. For example, ifthe user selects the “equals” relation, then the criterion must matchthe value exactly for the rule to be applied. Other relations allowrules to be configured, for example, to match purchase amounts above orbelow a certain threshold. Other relations not depicted (e.g., “is notequal to”) are also contemplated as being within the scope of theinvention. In some embodiments, not all relations are applicable to allcriteria, and may be automatically removed from the list when aninapplicable criterion is selected.

Value 1208 is entered by the user to define the value that the criterionmust satisfy before the rule is matched. In some embodiments, value 1208is entered as a free-form text entry. In others, possible values arepopulated into a drop-down menu. In other embodiments, the entry forvalue 1208 changes depending on the criterion selected. For example, ifthe criterion is “merchant category,” a drop down including “grocery,”“gas,” and the other merchant categories might be provided, while acriterion of “merchant” might allow free-form text entry and a criterionof “purchase amount” might allow numeric text entry. In someembodiments, a special value of “any” is available that will match anyvalue for the criterion. Thus, one complete condition might be “Ifmerchant is Wal-Mart” and another might be “If purchase amount is lessthan $10.00.” Of course, the flexibility of payment assignment rulesinterface 1200 allows the user to specify a virtually limitless numberof potential conditions.

In some embodiments, compound conditionals can also be formed, linked byBoolean operators. For example, a user could create a rule to be applied“if the merchant is Wal-Mart AND the purchase amount is less than$10.00.” Other types of compound conditionals, such as those linked bythe Boolean “OR” operator will be immediately apparent to one of skillin the art, and are also contemplated as being within the scope of theinvention.

In box 1212, the user can specify an amount of the payment to apply tothe account specified in dropdown menu 1216. As determined by dropdown1214, the amount entered in amount entry box 1212 can be either a dollar(or other currency) amount or a percentage of the total payment amountfor the transaction. Dropdown menu 1216 provides the user with a list ofthe virtual budgeting accounts the user has created to select from. Thusthe user can specify first assignment 1210 to apportion a first portionof the transaction to a first budget account.

Because the first assignment 1210 may account for only a portion of thepayment amount, the user may use button 1218 to add an additionalassignment 1210 similar to the first assignment 1210. In someembodiments, the user can continue to add assignments until the entirepayment amount for the transaction is accounted for. In otherembodiments, a “remainder” assignment 1220 is provided for anyunassigned amount. In some embodiments, the “remainder” assignment isinstead created by entering (or selecting) a special value (e.g., “ALL”)for the amount entry box 1212.

Rule 1202 can be further configured using buttons 1222 and 1224. Button1222 allows the user to delete a rule that they have created if it is nolonger desired, while buttons 1224 allow the user to move the rule upand down in the order of rule application when multiple rules arepresent. For example, button 1226 can be used to add another rule topayment assignment rules interface 1200, which can be either appliedbefore or after rule 1202. Using buttons 1226, the user can configurewhich rule is applied first. Thus, a user might have an existing ruleassigning transactions with a merchant category of “grocery” to a budgetaccount for groceries, but add a rule specifying that if the merchantidentifier is “Wal-Mart,” then the payment should instead be assigned toa budget account for general purchases. Using buttons 1224, user 902 canthen specify that this new rule should be applied before the existingrule, which would otherwise assign the transaction contrary to theuser's wishes.

In some embodiments, payment assignment rules interface 1200 may beprepopulated with one or more rules to ease the process of initiallyconfiguring a budget for user 902. For example, a rule assigning anytransaction with a merchant category of “grocery” to a budgetingcategory for groceries (which can also be pre-created for the user asdiscussed above) can be prepopulated in payment assignment rulesinterface 1200. Similar rules can be also be prepopulated for the mostcommon (or all) merchant categories). User 902 can then rely on theseprepopulated rules, modify them, or delete them and create their own.

Finally, some embodiments include a default rule 1228 that can beapplied if no other rules are satisfied. As shown, default rule 1228 hasno condition, and will accordingly be satisfied for any transactionsthat is not satisfied by any other rule, thus allowing the user toassign transaction that do not otherwise match a rule. In someembodiments, a user can also select from a variety of preconfigureddefault or non-default rules to ease the configuration process. One ofskill in the art will appreciate that a variety of methods ofconfiguring payment assignment rules equivalent to the above-describedinterface exist, and are contemplated as being within the scope of theinvention.

In some embodiments, payment assignment rules interface 1200 may includeadditional features such as spillover budgeting. In such embodiments, ifa transaction is allocated to a budget account with a remaining balanceless than the assigned amount, a “spillover” budget account can bedesignated to cover any shortage. Once this spillover account isexhausted, further transactions exceeding budget account will berejected as usual. Another feature in the budgeting account interface insome embodiments is an “explicit reject” action for rules. Using thisaction, transactions satisfying the condition for a rule can be rejectedeven if funds remain in the appropriate virtual budgeting account. Forexample, a user may specify that any transaction over $200 with amerchant category of “entertainment” is to be rejected, or that anytransaction from a particular merchant is to be rejected. One of skillin the art will appreciate that a variety of methods of configuringpayment assignment rules equivalent to the above-described interfaceexist, and are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention.

E. Account List

Returning now to FIG. 6, account interface 600 further includes list ofbudgeting accounts 614. List 614 determines which accounts budgetingaccount interface 600 makes available to the user to allocatetransactions. Each budgeting account includes a name 614 and a monthlylimit 616. In some embodiments, the user can use list 612 to specifyadditional information about budgeting accounts, such as a spilloveraccount for a particular budgeting account, or when the budgeting monthresets. The user can further add additional budgeting accounts using addaccount button 618. It will be immediately apparent to one of skill inthe art that the functionality of interface 600 can be provided to theuser in many different ways, and any interface or interfaces forallowing the user to add funding accounts and budgeting accounts iscontemplated as being within the scope of the invention.

F. Exemplary Budgeting Scenario

To more clearly illustrate the operation of embodiments of the inventionan exemplary scenario is provided. A taxpayer opts to receive their $500income tax refund in the form of a prepaid card in accordance withembodiments of the invention. The user 902 then receives in the mail apayment vehicle 904 in the form of a magnetic stripe card, together withinstructions for configuring virtual budgeting accounts and paymentassignment rules. User 902 then logs on to the online banking site forthe issuer of the card, financial institution 912, and is presented withbudgeting interface 1100, which has been prepopulated with virtualbudgeting accounts for groceries, gasoline, entertainment, restaurants,and general expenses. Because user 902 is a travelling salesman with a$1000 monthly expense account for expenses incurred when on the road,they use add account button 1128 to add an additional virtual budgetingaccount designated “travel expenses.” The user then uses button 1110 toallocate the $500 tax refund to the budget account for entertainment,button 1108 to configure a recurring deposit of $2000 from the user'sbank account corresponding to the user's direct-deposited paycheck, andbutton 1112 to allocate the recurring deposit among the user's budgetaccounts.

The user then selects payment rules button 1116 to configure the paymentassignment rules. Again, default rules have been provided to assigntransactions from merchants in a given category to the correspondingvirtual budgeting account, so user 902 selects button 1226 to add a ruleassigning payments to the travel expenses account. The user selectscriterion 1204 to be “purchase location state”, relation 1206 to be “notequal,” and enters “Kansas” for value 1208. The user then enters “100”for amount in box 1212, selects “%” in dropdown 1214, and selects“travel expenses” from dropdown 1216, thereby allocating the entirety ofany out-of-state purchase to the virtual budgeting account for travelexpenses. Finally, user 902 adjusts the newly added rule 1224 such thatit is applied before any other rule.

User 902 then makes a first purchase of groceries at a Wal-Mart. Becausethe merchant category for Wal-Mart is “groceries,” and a default ruleexists for assigning such purchases to the virtual budgeting account forgroceries, the payment for this transaction is deducted from user 902'sgroceries budget. Some days later, user 902 makes a second purchase atWal-Mart, this time of a new television. Knowing that purchases atWal-Mart would ordinarily be deducted from the groceries budget, user902 overrides the automatically determined virtual budgeting account atthe merchant point-of-sale, instead specifying that this purchase is tobe deducted from the “entertainment” virtual budgeting account.

After several months of successfully using the system, user 902 makes alarge purchase from an out-of-state online merchant, which is(unintentionally and unknowingly) applied to the budget account fortravel expenses, thereby exhausting it. When the user next uses paymentvehicle 904 to pay for an out-of-state hotel, the payment is initiallyrejected since it is applied to the budget account for travel expenses,which does not have sufficient funds remaining, even though the balanceon the prepaid card is sufficient to fund the transaction. The userinstructs the hotel clerk to run the card again, thereby providing abudget override, and the transaction is approved.

Upon returning home, user 902 logs on to the online banking site forfinancial institution 912, and discovers the incorrectly assignedtransaction. Using button 1114, user 902 changes the budget account forthe online transaction from “travel expenses” to “entertainment,”thereby restoring the balance of the budget account for travel expenses,and assigns the overridden hotel transaction to the budget account fortravel expenses. As a result of reassigning the transaction, user 902 isprompted to edit the payment assignment rules using payment assignmentrules interface 1200. In interface 1200, user 902 selects the rule fortravel expenses and changes the condition to the compound condition “If(purchase location state) (not equal) (Kansas) AND (merchant category)(equal) (lodging),” thereby preventing further charges from beingmisapplied to the selected virtual budgeting account. The above scenariois provided purely for illustrative purposes to provide an example ofthe interoperation of the components previously described, and shouldnot be taken as limiting in any way the scope of the invention describedherein.

V. Personalized Rewards Program

Another feature offered by some embodiments of the present invention isreserved funds accounts that allow the user to segregate funds towards aparticular goal. Unlike conventional demand-deposit accounts thatrequire a user to open a new account with a financial institution,reserved funds accounts can be easily created by the user as subaccountsof an existing financial accounts. Funds can then be allocated to thesereserved funds accounts without the cost or regulatory overhead oftransfers between different financial accounts. For example, the usermay create a reserved funds account dedicated to funding a plannedvacation. In some embodiments, the user may allocate a portion of arecurring or one-time deposit to a reserved funds account as they wouldto a virtual budgeting account. In other embodiments, the user mayspecify that funds remaining in one, some, or all virtual budgetingaccounts at the end of each budgeting cycle are transferred to one ormore reserved funds accounts. In some embodiments, the user mayadditionally designate that funds from reward programs are to beautomatically allocated to a reserved funds account. In still otherembodiments, users may allocate funds to a reserved funds account usingall of these (as well as other) methods. In some embodiments, whencreating the reserved funds account, the user may specify a targetsavings amount and a target redemption date. In other embodiments, theuser may also specify the objective that is being saved for. Forexample, the user could create a reserved funds account with theobjective of saving $500 towards a new television by Christmas. In suchembodiments, embodiments of the invention can help the user trackwhether they are on track to meet their goal.

In some embodiments, the availability of the funds in these reservedfunds accounts may be restricted. For example, the funds allocated to areserved funds account may not be available to fund general purchasesuntil and unless the target savings amount and or due date have beenreached. In some embodiments, these funds may be made available if theuser provides a budgeting override. In other embodiments, the user mustexplicitly transfer funds out of the reserved funds account in order toaccess them for other purchases. In some embodiments, once the targetsavings amount is reached, the reserved funds account may only beredeemed for transactions with a merchant category corresponding to theobjective. For example, in such embodiments, the funds in the reservedfunds account for the television above could not be redeemed for apurchase of groceries, but rather only for the objective specifiedduring the creation of the reserved funds account.

Furthermore, these reserved funds accounts can themselves be the basisof rewards programs. For example, if a user sets up a reserved fundsaccount, and contributes at least a minimum amount to it each rewardsperiod for a predetermined period, the financial institution may matchthe minimum periodic contribution. Similarly, the seller of a product orservice being saved towards may sponsor a rewards program. Rewardsprograms can take any form now known or later developed, including cashrewards, airline miles, discounts on products or services, merchantpoints, and other forms as described herein. Rewards programs canfurther be instant, awarded periodically (e.g., at the end of eachbilling period), or awarded in a lump sum. For example, if a usercreates a reserved funds account dedicated to a Walt Disney Worldvacation, Disney could contribute a percentage of the funds saved asrewards applicable to the planned vacation. Alternatively or inaddition, rewards programs could be offered that are related to, but notimplicit in the objective of the reserved funds account. For example, inresponse to a user creating the reserved funds account above, the usercould be offered an airline miles reward program while contributing tothe reserved funds account. In some embodiments, rewards could beawarded to the user for opening the reserved funds account.

In some embodiments, rewards can be awarded on the basis of successfullyredeeming a reserved funds account. In the example above, if the usersuccessfully allocates $500 towards the reserved funds account byChristmas, and redeems the reserved funds account accordingly,additional rewards may be awarded. In some such embodiments, the rewardsmay be credited to the payment vehicle generally; for example, if thepayment vehicle is a prepaid card, cash rewards can be loaded back ontothe prepaid card to fund general purchases. In other such embodiments,the reward may be allocated to a specific virtual budgeting accountassociated with the purchase category (e.g., to an “entertainment”virtual budgeting account for the television purchase). In still otherembodiments, the rewards may take non-monetary form. For example, in theexample above of a user saving for a Disney vacation, upon successfulredemption of the reserved funds account, the user might be awarded ablock of airline miles, which in turn could be redeemed for the flightto Walt Disney World. In yet other embodiments, the rewards could be inother forms unconnected with the payment vehicle, such as a mailed papercheck.

In other embodiments, rewards programs may be targeted to the user onthe basis of the reserved funds accounts they have created, with noother connection to the user's reserved funds accounts or fundingaccounts. For example, the user could be offered a buy-one-get-one-freepromotion on admission to Walt Disney World in response to opening areserved funds account for a Disney vacation. Alternatively or inaddition, rewards programs could be offered to the user as they approachtheir savings goal or target date. For example, the promotion could beoffered to the user when they reach 90% of their target savings amountor when they are one month away from the due date for the reserved fundsaccount. Of course, multiple such rewards programs could be offered tothe user for a reserved funds account, or on the basis of multiple suchreserved funds accounts. The rewards programs offered may be determinedon the category assigned to the reserved funds account by the user,information supplied by the user when creating the reserved fundsaccount, the due date for the reserved funds account, a name assigned tothe reserved funds account by the user, any other information, or acombination of multiple such sources of information.

A. Method of Assigning Personalized Rewards Programs

Turning now to FIG. 13, a flowchart illustrating the operation of amethod in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention isdepicted. The method begins at a step 1302 when a user visits theinterface for creating a new reserved funds account. In someembodiments, this interface is integrated into budgeting interface 1100.In other embodiments, a dedicated reserved funds account interface isused for creating the reserved funds accounts. Where virtual budgetaccounts will typically have monthly allocations replenishing them dueto regular withdrawals, reserved funds accounts may or may not haveperiodic allocations. In some embodiments, a user may instead or inaddition specify that any balance left in a budgeting account is to betransferred to the reserved funds account as described above. In someembodiments, the user may in addition specify that cash rewards fromother rewards programs are to be deposited into a designated reservedfunds account. Additional details regarding the interface for creatingreserved funds account can be found below.

Next, at step 1304, when creating a reserved funds account the userspecifies information for the reserved funds account including a name, acategory, a target savings amount, and a due date. In some embodiments,the user can choose any name for the account that is meaningful to them.In some embodiments, the categories available to select from are thesame as the merchant categories described above. In other embodiments,the categories can instead correspond to one of the user's virtualbudgeting accounts. In some embodiments, the user can also specifyadditional information as a part of creating the virtual funds account.For example, a user, when creating a reserved funds account named“vacation fund” in the category of travel, might be prompted to provideadditional details, such as the destination, activities planned, andnumber of people travelling, in order to help plan the trip. Similarly,if a user creates a reserved funds account titles “new car” with acategory of automotive, they might be prompted to specify whether theyare purchasing a new or used car, the make and model of the desired car,and so on. In some embodiments, some or all of the information to besupplied by the user when creating the reserved funds account isoptional and can be omitted.

Processing then proceeds to step 1306, where applicable rewards programsare determined based on the information provided by the user. Rewardsprograms might be sponsored by a financial institution backing a fundingaccount (which might or might not require that the user use thatparticular funding account for transactions in order to receive thereward), by a merchant (which might or might not require that the usermake purchases at that particular merchant in order to receive thereward, or even by a third party such as the government. The criteriafor offering a rewards program can vary depending on the user, thereserved funds account and the sponsor. For example, as discussed above,Disney might wish to sponsor an airline miles rewards programs for usersplanning a Disney vacation, in order to encourage them to follow throughon their plans by making cheaper plane tickets available. Conversely, ifthe user has a reserved funds account dedicated to a vacation, but hasnot specified a destination, Disney might offer a different rewardsprogram, such as cash rewards for tickets to Disney parks and purchasesmade there, in order to steer the user's choice of vacation destination.Similarly, a user who has created a reserved funds account for anautomobile might be offered rewards programs sponsored by localdealerships and/or automakers in order to steer their purchasingdecision. As described above, cash rewards can be credited to the userdifferently for different rewards programs. In some embodiments, cashrewards might be instantly credited to the account balance of thepayment vehicle. In other embodiments, rewards can be accrued monthlyand credited to a particular reserved funds account. Other methods andfrequencies of awarding cash rewards to the user are also contemplatedas being within the scope of the invention.

Next, at a step 1308, the user is presented with the option to enroll inthe rewards programs determined to be applicable at step 1306. In someembodiments, the user is presented with these options immediately uponcreating the pocket. In other embodiments, certain rewards programs maybe offered based on the reserved funds account approaching its due date.For example, if a user creates a reserved funds account for a vacationwith a due date one year in the future, it may not be desirable toimmediately present the user with a rewards program offering discountedairline tickets. Rather, presenting the user with the rewards program amonth or two before the intended date of the vacation may result inbetter user acceptance and use of the offer. Similarly, it may bedesirable to delay some offers until the user redeems the pocket. In theexample above of a user creating a reserved funds account for purchasinga vehicle, a rewards program offering rewards for routine carmaintenance might better be offered when the user redeems the reservedfunds account to make the purchase. In addition, if a sponsor makes anew offer available, it may be offered to users who have currentlyexisting reserved funds accounts matching the requirements. In someembodiments, offers may also be presented to the user based on thereserved funds account approaching or reaching its target savingsamount. Multiple offers may be determined to be applicable to a givenuser creating a reserved funds account, and offers may be presented tothe user at different times, each according to its own criteria.

VI. Unified System

Some embodiments of the invention may include a combination of some orall of the above-discussed features, providing even greater benefit thanthe sum of the individual features alone. Turning now to FIG. 14, ahigh-level flowchart showing the flow of a transaction according to yetanother embodiment of the present invention is depicted and generallyreferred to by reference numeral 1400. Initially, at step 1402, thetransaction information (including, e.g., the merchant with whom thetransaction is being conducted) is received. As discussed above, thisdetermination may be performed in a number of ways, and can be performedon the payment vehicle itself or elsewhere in the payment-processingnetwork.

Once the transaction information has been received, the relevantdiscounts and other reward programs can be identified and the totalpayment due calculated at step 1404. As discussed above, the relevantrewards programs, coupons, loyalty programs, punch cards, and other waysof reducing the total payment due may be determined based on theavailable funding vehicles, the merchant, personalized rewards programsoffered to the user on the basis of their anticipated spending, theindividual items being purchased, or other factors. These relevantrewards programs, coupons, frequent shopper program cards, punch cards,and other means of reducing the total payment due are then presented tothe merchant point-of-sale. As discussed above, in some embodiments thismay be accomplished in a single exchange between the payment vehicle andthe merchant point-of-sale. In other embodiments, each coupon, punchcard, etc. must be presented separately. At this point, the finalpayment amount due can be calculated, and is presented by the merchantpoint of sale to the user. In some embodiments, the payment amount ispresented to the payment vehicle. In other embodiments, it is presented,along with identification information from the payment vehicle, to afinancial institution or payment clearinghouse in the payment-processingnetwork.

When the payment amount for the transaction has been received,processing can proceed to step 1406, where the budgeting accountselector (which can, as discussed above, be located at a variety oflocations in the payment-processing network) can assess the paymentacross the user's virtual budgeting account and determine whether thetransaction conforms to the user's budget. If so, processing can proceedto step 1408. Otherwise, as discussed above with respect to FIG. 10, abudgeting rejection can be sent for potential override by the user.

Finally, at step 1408, the funding account selector (which can also belocated at a variety of locations throughout the payment-processingnetwork, and need not be co-located with the budgeting account selector)allocates the payment across the user's funding accounts according tothe rules the user has configured, as discussed above with respect toFIG. 4. If the aggregate credit limit on the user's funding accounts ismore than the payment amount, then the transaction is approved andprocessing completes. Otherwise, the transaction is rejected. In someembodiments, when a transaction is rejection, the prior processing withrespect to loyalty programs and budgeting accounts must be backed outbefore processing can complete.

As an example of how this integrated system works, consider a customershopping for groceries. As the user walks into the grocery store, thepayment vehicle (here, a mobile payment app loaded on their smartphone)uses geolocation to determine that the user is at the grocery store, andalerts them that they have a coupon redeemable for Cheerios and thatthey have completed a buy-six-get-one-free punch card for pies. The useris furthermore informed that, by using the funding account to pay forthe purchase that the user's rules (as stored on the local rules datastore) specify, cash rewards totaling 1.5% of the purchase amount willbe earned. In other embodiments, the system may automatically determineand apply all relevant discounts without alerting the user. Once theuser has made their selections from the store and proceeded to thecheckout, the smartphone interfaces with the merchant's point-of-sale todetermine which items are eligible for a promotion such as a coupon orpunch-card punch. The mobile payment app then provides the user'sfrequent shopper card (in order to access certain sales that are onlyavailable to frequent shoppers), redeems the punch card for a free pie,and provides the coupon for the Cheerios. Once all the discounts havebeen applied, the mobile payment app receives the total payment amountdue for the transaction, and (after consulting the locally storedbudgeting rules data store) verifies that the user has sufficient fundsremaining in the “groceries” virtual budgeting account. Once this isverified, the mobile payment app provides the merchant's point-of-salewith the account details for the financial account selected by therules. Once the payment clearing house and/or issuing financialinstitution have approved the payment, the transaction is completed. Atthe end of the rewards period, the applicable cash rewards aredeposited, as the user has configured, in a reserved funds accountpreviously set up by the user to save up for a vacation. Although theabove example includes a combination of a number of features of theinvention, Combinations with fewer features are also contemplated. Forexample, a unified payment vehicle with customized rewards programscould be present without budgeting in one embodiment.

Many different arrangements of the various components depicted, as wellas components not shown, are possible without departing from the scopeof the claims below. Embodiments of the invention have been describedwith the intent to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternativeembodiments will become apparent to readers of this disclosure after andbecause of reading it. Alternative means of implementing theaforementioned can be completed without departing from the scope of theclaims below. Certain features and subcombinations are of utility andmay be employed without reference to other features and subcombinationsand are contemplated within the scope of the claims. Although theinvention has been described with reference to the embodimentsillustrated in the attached drawing figures, it is noted thatequivalents may be employed and substitutions made herein withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as recited in the claims.

Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, what isclaimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includesthe following:
 1. A method for configuring a customized rewards programfor a user, comprising the steps of: providing a user interface for auser to create a reserved funds account, wherein the reserved fundsaccount is created as a subaccount of an existing financial account;receiving information from the user associated with the reserved fundsaccount; based on the received information, determining a applicablerewards program associated with the reserved funds account; and offeringthe applicable rewards program to the user.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the applicable rewards program is determined at least in partbased on a name associated with the reserved funds account by the user.3. The method of claim 1, wherein the applicable rewards program isdetermined at least in part based on a category selected for thereserved funds account by the user.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe applicable rewards program is determined based at least in part on adue date chosen for the reserved funds account by the user.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the applicable rewards program is determinedat least in part based on a target savings amount specified for thereserved funds account by the user.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinthe applicable rewards program is determined at least in part based ontwo factors selected from the set consisting of: a name associated withthe reserved funds account by the user, a category selected for thereserved funds account by the user, a due date chosen for the reservedfunds account by the user, and a target savings amount specified for thereserved funds account by the user.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe applicable rewards program is offered to the user when the useropens the reserved funds account.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein theapplicable rewards program is offered to the user at a time based on adue date of the reserved funds account specified by the user.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the applicable rewards program is offered tothe user upon redemption of the reserved funds account.
 10. A system foroffering a personalized rewards programs, comprising: a payment vehiclefor a user operable to provide payment for a transaction; a reservedfunds account associated with the payment vehicle, wherein the paymentvehicle does not have access to the funds in the reserved funds accountto provide payment for the transaction and wherein the reserved fundsaccount is created as a subaccount of an existing financial account; anda rewards program associated with the payment vehicle and offered to theuser based on one or more details associated with the reserved fundsaccount.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the funds in the reservedfunds account are only accessible to fund a transaction designated bythe user upon the creation of the reserved funds account.
 12. The systemof claim 10, wherein the rewards program deposits cash rewards into thereserved fund account.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein the rewardsprogram is a first rewards program, and further comprising a secondrewards program associated with the payment vehicle and offered to theuser based on one or more details associated with the reserved fundsaccount.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the details of the reservedfunds account include a category and a due date.
 15. The system of claim14, wherein the details of the reserved funds account further include aname and target savings amount.
 16. The system of claim 10, wherein therewards program is sponsored by a merchant associated with thetransaction.
 17. One or more computer-readable media storingcomputer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor,perform a method of offering a customized rewards program to a user, themethod comprising the steps of: receiving, from the user, detailsrelating to a reserved funds account to be created for the user, whereinthe reserved funds account is created as a subaccount of an existingfinancial account; determining, based on the details relating to thereserved funds account, an applicable rewards program; and offering, tothe user, the applicable rewards program in conjunction with a paymentvehicle of the user.
 18. The media of claim 17, wherein the detailsrelating to the reserved funds account describe a planned transactionusing the payment vehicle, and wherein finds in the reserved fundsaccount are only useable to provide payment for the planned transaction.19. The media of claim 17, wherein the applicable rewards programcontributes cash rewards into the reserved funds account.
 20. The mediaof claim 17, wherein the applicable rewards program is offered to theuser upon redemption of the reserved funds account.